DE PERE, Wis. - St. Norbert College slowly pulled away to claim a 65-42 Midwest Conference win over Knox College at Connie Tilley Court at Schuldes Sports Center.
The Green Knights, who are ranked No. 6 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the MWC. Knox dropped to 1-6, 0-4.
St. Norbert led just 18-15 with 6 minutes 5 seconds left in the first half after Knox's David Jones hit a pair of free throws. John Taylor's jumper with 5:22 left snapped almost a 5-minute scoreless stretch for St. Norbert. After Knox got to within 21-17 with 3:12 left, St. Norbert closed the half on a 5-0 run capped off by Paul Appleton's 3-pointer shortly before the buzzer for a 26-17 score.
Knox opened the second half on a 5-0 run but the Green Knights responded with a decisive 8-0 run. Andy Fox had a conventional three-point play, David Wipperfurth canned a 3-pointer and Chris Peterson hit a layup for a 34-22 advantage with 16:03 left. The Prairie Fire would get to within 39-34 with 11:59 left, but Fox's jumper in the lane stemmed the tide and St. Norbert never led by less than seven the rest of the way.
Peterson led St. Norbert with 14 points off the bench. Wipperfurth added 10 points, while Steve Papke added eight points and 12 rebounds. Fox also added eight points for St. Norbert, which had 11 different players score. The Green Knights, who had just five turnovers with none in the second half, shot 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the floor.
Knox was led by Ben Wetherbee's 14 points, and Jones finished with nine points and six rebounds. The Prairie Fire shot just 15-for-51 (29.4 percent) from the floor.